Production Management

How did it take me so long to come to grips with the concept of task management?

For the longest time, I've known that two things I've needed to do as a producer is to 1) create a complete asset list, and 2) create a production schedule for all of the art team members. Several months have passed since I realized this, and yet it hasn't been until the last several days that I've made concrete progress on these two items. Why did it take so long?

In retrospect, it really surprising, as I've got a good six years of real-world experience managing projects, creating task lists and schedules, and slowly making daily progress on very large projects. Granted, the types of work I've managed before (and currently do) are not at all similar to video game production, but the basic concept is the same. It's infuriating that it has taken me so long to get an asset production schedule down on paper.

The good news is that we are nearing completion on such an asset list and production schedule. This will accomplish several vital functions: 1) It will give the team clear guidance and deadlines. 2) It will help identify gaps in human resources so we can conduct targeted recruiting. 3) It gives us a better idea of when the demo can be completed.

Creating the schedule was a bit of a chore, and I'm confident it will change as we go along. I understand that with time, one increases one's proficiency in gauging how long it will take people to complete tasks. Since I don't have much experience in this particular field, the schedule will be fairly fluid for the time being. This'll be especially true given that our team works only part-time.

All told, it looks like we'll be opening up our Help Wanted post again in the very near future. The clarity provided by the asset list and production schedule should alleviate, at least to a certain extent, the lack of productivity we've thus far experienced.